The Patriarch nodded slightly.

"Then check the records."

The order came instantly.

Elders moved.

Maintenance logs were brought.

Movement records.

Assignments.

Everything.

Hours passed.

Eventually the results came.

Ju Fan indeed had not touched sect Jiangshi recently.

Most of his work orders had been suspended months earlier.

The suspicion faded.

The First Kidney Peak Head no longer spoke.

Han Yu quietly stood aside.

Inside however…

He smiled.

The first step had succeeded.

Now the sect possessed evidence.

Evidence of modified Jiangshi.

Evidence of hidden tampering.

Evidence pointing toward a faction.

And best of all…

The evidence came from him.

The Patriarch finally spoke.

"This confirms it."

The hall quieted.

"There is indeed a hidden force inside our sect."

"A force capable of modifying Jiangshi."

"A force capable of hiding itself."

The elders' expressions darkened.

The Supreme Elder slowly opened his eyes.

"If they can modify Jiangshi…"

He looked toward the Patriarch.

"…then perhaps every corpse servant in the sect must be investigated."

Silence.

Then horror spread.

The sect possessed millions of Jiangshi.

Checking all of them… Would take years.

Han Yu lowered his head slightly to hide the amusement in his eyes.

The chaos had only just begun.

The Grand Hall had already been tense before.

Now it felt like a blade stretched to its limit.

After the discovery of the modified curse core, the Patriarch and elders had personally begun tracing every possible path the Jiangshi could have taken. Records were brought from every workshop, every logistics station and every assignment office across Heart Peak.

Hours turned into an entire day.

Then finally someone found something.

An elder handling the formation records suddenly froze.

"Patriarch!" he called out loudly. "There is an inconsistency!"

Everyone turned.

The elder quickly activated the formation screen as a recording appeared.

It showed one of the Jiangshi involved in the attack. The same half destroyed Jiangshi they had recovered. The recording showed it entering a maintenance workshop a month ago. Seeing this the hall grew quiet.

Han Yu lowered his gaze slightly.

The hook had finally been bitten.

The Patriarch immediately spoke.

"Summon everyone from that workshop."

Orders spread instantly.

Within minutes several disciples and workshop elders were dragged into the Grand Hall.

All of them looked terrified.

The Patriarch pointed at the recording.

"This Jiangshi. Was it here?"

The disciples stared.

Then several of them nodded.

"Yes Patriarch."

"It was brought in."

"We repaired some external damage."

The Patriarch narrowed his eyes.

"Show the records."

The disciples hurriedly opened their jade slips.

Then confusion appeared.

"It is gone?"

"There is no entry…"

"That cannot be right."

The workshop elder checked personally.

Nothing.

The Jiangshi had no maintenance entry whatsoever.

The disciples turned pale.

The First Lung Peak Head who had remained silent all this time suddenly erupted.

"You useless trash!"

His hand moved.

BOOM!

One disciple exploded instantly.

Blood sprayed across the hall.

The remaining workshop disciples screamed and collapsed trembling.

The Patriarch's face darkened.

"Enough!"

His voice shook the hall.

The First Lung Peak Head stopped but rage still covered his face.

His eyes were bloodshot.

His inheritance was gone.

His peak was crippled.

Everyone understood his state.

The workshop disciples trembled violently.

One finally forced himself to speak.

"Patriarch… someone must have changed the records later…"

"The workshop records can be altered…"

"But the formation recordings cannot…"

Everyone froze.

That was true.

The recording arrays belonged to central control. Only the highest authority could alter them. Knowing this the Patriarch immediately ordered further investigation. The movements of the Jiangshi were traced.

Then several more Jiangshi involved in the attack were checked too.

Hours passed.

More records appeared.

More routes.

More locations.

Eventually one common point emerged.

Logistics.

The Jiangshi had all passed through logistics assignments.

The records were checked.

Then everyone's expressions changed again.

They were altered too.

Someone had edited them.

At this moment one elder suddenly frowned.

"Wait…"

Everyone looked at him.

"I remember seeing Core Disciple Hong Yao in logistics before."

The hall quieted.

High Elder Zhongli raised his head.

The elder continued.

"He was there often during the past months."

The recordings were immediately brought.

Formation screens activated.

Everyone watched.

The image showed Hong Yao.

He moved normally.

He spoke to disciples.

Checked records.

Handled assignments.

Nothing strange.

Then the screen paused.

Hong Yao briefly took out a token.

A faint fluctuation spread.

The records on the table changed.

The hall exploded.

"What!"

"He modified them?"

"How?"

Even High Elder Zhongli looked stunned.

The Patriarch slowly turned.

"Where is Hong Yao?"

High Elder Zhongli immediately replied.

"He is handling duties elsewhere."

"Summon him."

The order went out.

Half an hour later Hong Yao entered the hall.

The man looked confused.

He bowed.

"Disciple greets Patriarch…"

Then his eyes met the Patriarch.

Pressure descended.

BOOM!

Hong Yao crashed onto his knees.

The entire hall shook.

The man coughed blood.

"What happened?" he asked in confusion.

The Patriarch stared down at him.

"Explain."

The formation screen activated again.

Hong Yao saw himself.

Saw the modified records.

His expression changed.

"I do not know!"

"That was not me!"

"I never…"

The Patriarch remained silent.

The investigation continued.

More recordings were checked.

Then more abnormalities appeared.

Hong Yao was everywhere.

Logistics.

Storage halls.

Maintenance workshops.

Assignment offices.

Individually they looked harmless.

Together…

The pattern became terrifying.

The timeline matched perfectly.

Every altered record.

Every missing entry.

Every hidden movement.

Hong Yao appeared nearby.

The hall slowly turned cold.

High Elder Zhongli stood motionless.

He looked at his disciple.

Then back at the recordings.

"This is impossible…" he muttered. "Someone manipulated this…"

The Patriarch did not answer.

Instead he ordered deeper investigation. And that was when another name appeared.

Hong Yura.

The hall fell silent again.

Several records showed him too.

Storage movements.

Personnel transfers.

Assignment requests.

Hidden authorizations.

Everything looked ordinary.

Yet when placed beside Hong Yao's actions… It formed a web.

The First Lung Peak Head exploded.

"You bastards!"

His aura erupted.

The hall cracked.

He rushed forward.

Hong Yao's face turned pale.

Fortunately the Patriarch moved first.

A hand landed on the Peak Head's shoulder.

"Stand down."